> So if Perl Best Practices is too much, and you could only have 5 rules
> for any perl script, what would they be?
Can I have six, please Sir???
These are in decreasing order of "bang for your buck"
[and with PBP references, in case PBP *isn't* too much]...
1. Commenting: Code in commented paragraphs.
[Ch2: "Chunking"]
2. Layout: Agree upon a single coherent layout style and automate it
with 'perltidy'.
[Ch2: "Automated Layout"]
3. Strictures: Always 'use strict' (and 'use warnings' during development) and
explicitly state your minimum Perl version requirement. (e.g. 'use v5.10')
[Ch18: "Strictures", "Warnings"]
4. Naming: Use grammatical templates of at least two words when forming
identifiers (or at least those whose scope extends beyond a single block).
(e.g. '<adj>_<noun>' for vars, '<verb>_<noun>' for subs)
[Ch3: "Identifiers"]
5. Subroutine APIs: In a subroutine, always unpack @_ first (using named args
if there are more than three parameters), and always return via an
explicit 'return'.
[Ch9: "Argument Lists", "Named Arguments", "Implicit Returns"]
6. Regexes: Always use the '/x' flag and named captures, and if the regex
is complex, factor components out into independent named subpatterns.
[Ch12: "Extended Formatting", no refs for the named stuff (which
post-dates PBP)]
Damian